Here is part of his 36 minute speech on the floor of the Senate yesterday, given after he was forced to withdraw his single payer system amendment to the current health reform bill.

“The fact that 17 percent of our people are unemployed or underemployed, one out of four of our children are living on food stamps, we’ve got two wars, we’ve got global warming, we have a $12 trillion national debt, and the best the Republicans can do is try to bring the United States government to a halt by forcing a reading of a 700 page amendment. That is an outrage. People can have honest disagreements, but in this moment of crisis it is wrong to bring the United States government to a halt.” Source

If the amendment had been introduced, it would have been the first time in history such an amendment would have been discussed on the Senate floor. Senator Durbin, the Democratic Whip stated:

The decision by the Senate Republican leadership today to have the Sanders amendment read clearly tells us what their strategy is. It is to slow down or stop this bill at any cost.

Senator Sanders stopped the bill reading and began speaking on the floor nearly 3 hours into the reading of the amendment-required by Senator Coburn.